Film Roar

One Hour Photo (2002)

The plot for One Hour Photo (2002) is very simple: The photo development operator at the local discount store becomes dangerously obsessed with a seemingly perfect family he watches through the rolls of film they bring in. That is the main problem with the movie and the reason why I guess it received bad reviews when it was first released; once the story conflict is set nothing much happens other than we get to see Robin Williams do a very good (too good it seems at times) job of creeping people out as the well-meaning but not well-adjusted clerk. It also does not help that Williams seems to once again been type-cast into repeating a role he shows aptitude for (the fast-talking, loud and irreverent comic relief in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The (1988), then the deep-but-funny intellectual who has seen the hard side and learned to make fun of it in Dead Poets Society (1989), Awakenings (1990), Good Will Hunting (1997) and What Dreams May Come (1998) and now the creepy-psycho in One Hour Photo (2002) and Insomnia (2002)). What people who knocked the movie failed to mention and right about blew me away was the incredible set dressing and cinematography that gives the movie a superb feel and style. It is hard to know without doing a lot of research how much credit for the look of the movie should go to writer/director Mark Romanek, best known for his work with music videos (Madonna's Bedtime Story and Rain, Nine Inch Nails' Closer and The Perfect Drug, R.E.M.'s Strange Currencies and Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt), and how much should go to cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (U2: Rattle and Hum (1988), Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999)), production designer Tom Foden (The Cell (2000)), art director Michael Manson (The Cell (2000)), or set decorator Tessa Posnansky (Cruel Intentions (1999), American History X (1998), The Cell (2000)). The final look is probably the result of the combined effort of all these and more individuals, but whatever the source it is certainly worthy of praise. There were many scenes in the movie where I was inclined to (and at times did) just freeze the frame and admire it for it's own individual aesthetic. This should not be surprising since the movie is deeply self-referential, revolving around photographs and images as the primary theme (and also references many famous photographers including James Van Der Zee, Yoshi Araki, Bill Owens, Ellen]von Unwerth, Aaron Siskind and Paul Outerbridge.